Community Capital Club (C3)

Posted on March 10, 2014

Fifty-four men and organizations from throughout St. Clair County have joined the Community Foundation’s new “Community Capital Club(C3)” by participating in the Jim Acheson Challenge. Led by Team Captains Will Oldford from Talmer Bank and Mike Cansfield from Michigan Mutual, they raised $162,000 in gifts and pledges to provide a 3 to 1 return on the original $50,000 challenge gift made by Jim Acheson earlier this year. These gifts and pledges, totaling $212,000 will be used to create a new C3 endowment fund.

The Community Capital Club (C3) will seek out projects that enhance the economic prosperity of the Blue Water Region. Similar to other “angel investor groups” C3 aims to support projects that build community capital and enhance quality of place. In doing so, C3 will also consider supporting the efforts of select early-stage companies and/or growing ventures located within the Blue Water Region.

Members of C3 are passionate about business and about their community. Contributing to the general prosperity of the region by helping worthwhile early stage and growth companies succeed is one of the primary goals of C3.

A financial return on investment may be appropriate for some of our projects, whereas other potential projects might be measured in terms of their community impact while not providing a direct investment return to C3 or its members.

Areas of focus:

Capital – bricks & mortar - projects that enhance a particular community or region by improving public spaces and/or help make the community more attractive as a place to live, work and play

Outdoor products and recreation, especially those that capitalize on our water assets

Tourism, with a focus on maritime tourists and those to our unique downtowns

Natural products and those around health and healthy lifestyles

Water related science, energy and engineering, also known as the Blue Economy